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I narrowly managed to avoid jumping out of my skin and dislodging her hand.
Judging by the way she laughed, feather light and low, she noticed.
I swallowed down my slightly tarnished pride and stayed still, my eyes half closed.
The back of my neck tingled slightly. Where she touched me, my skin became warm, almost to the point of discomfort. I wanted to jerk away, but I forced myself to keep still.
The warmth grew to a heat that should have been unpleasant, but the pain actually sent a pulse of arousal right to my pussy. Thank the gods I didn’t have a cock. If I did, it would iron hard right now.
Right before I moaned, I felt a click on the back of my neck. The choker dropped open and fell into my hand.
Whatever I was expecting to feel when I was finally free of the silver collar, it wasn't this. A sudden rush of sensation, like a mist cleared from my mind and body. Everything seemed sharper, intense, more in focus.
It lasted for the blink of an eye, before everything went back to normal. The whole world was dull again in comparison. Mundane.
I struggled to keep my hands steady as I handed the choker to Geralda. I took a long, shallow breath and waited for her to ask the same question she’d asked Hycanthe.
"My name is Khala Firneal," I said clearly.
Left tit of Breia, it felt strange to talk after so long. Did I really sound like that?
As I stepped aside to join Hycanthe, I caught Zared's eye. He was grinning as though hearing me talk was somehow hilarious.
I smirked at him. For some reason, that made him grin even more.
Tyla followed right behind me, standing where I just stood. Her lips were pressed in a tight line, so tight, her lips were white. Her eyes tracked the Fae woman as she moved around beside her.
For a solid half a minute, I thought she'd refuse to let the woman touch her. What would happen if she did? She couldn't remain a Silent Maiden forever, and the only way to remove the choker was with Fae magic. That was why they’d come all the way here. To free us from the collars that bound our voices.
Why was another question the priestesses wouldn’t answer with anything beyond, “It’s the will of Breia.”
The goddess was fucked up, if you asked me.
I touched my throat lightly with my fingertips. It felt bare without the choker, naked. Most humans didn't encounter magic in their lifetimes and I had already encountered it twice. Once when the choker was put on there by a different Fae, a man that time, and once today. Was that what caused that flash of clarity? Some kind of residual effect from being touched by magic? If that was the case, I'd never experience a moment like it again. That felt like punishment in itself. To feel something like that and then to know I'd never feel it again.
For a moment so fleeting, it was strangely compelling. Addicting. Like I knew how it felt to be alive, only to have it slip away a moment later.
I blinked in time to see Geralda give Tyla a harsh look. The Fae woman placed her hands on my friend’s neck.
This time I saw it. A flash of… Something. Not quite light, heat or mist, but somehow all of those things at once. It was both of no colour and every colour. Like the gods poured a palette of paint into the world and let every shade swirl together.
There was more. A scent of something I couldn't put a name to. Sweeter than flowers or honey, but not cloying. Like a perfume you couldn't bottle, because it was too perfect to sell or even to share.
All of that I got, and more, in one heartbeat. And then it was gone and Tyla was handing her choker to one of the priestesses and stepping over to stand beside me.
I hadn't even heard her speak her name, I was so lost in that moment, that flash of magic.
I watched the other five of my sisters have their chokers removed, each stating their name in turn. Then the chokers were placed around the necks of the newest maidens. Each one looked too big for their eight year old throats. They’d grow into them, eventually.
Not once did I see another flash of magic. Even the smell of the Fae woman seemed to have dulled. I was swamped by the usual smells of the temple: candles, incense and humans. The light was dimmer than usual, the Temple more tired and worn. Every movement seemed slower, monotonous as though time itself had slowed.
Maybe what I saw was nothing more than an illusion, or a daydream. Whatever it was, I wanted to hold onto it. Cling to it, to light a world that seemed darker than it had.
In the corner of my eye, I caught Tyla staring at the Fae woman. The expression on her face was different now. Not fear. She looked lost, bereft. Confused. A mirror image of my own emotions. A quick scan of the faces around us suggested none of my sisters felt what I felt, but somehow Tyla had.
I had no idea what the fuck it meant.
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